Guidelines for Posting Problems

[Ender]

Thought I should put this up here. In any successful math forum there should be guidelines to posting problems.

Guidelines
1. Post problems that are solvable with high school math, since this is (or can quickly become) a common denominator. (If a problem is solveable with both high school math and college/grad math, then this of course is acceptable.)
2. If it's above high school-level math and you give a quick tutorial on the subject before posting a related problem, then this of course acceptable (as well as commendable).
3. Credit your source. This is not only courteous to the authors of the problem but it also gives a gauge of the difficulty.
4. Discussion of math, asking for help on concepts and problems, etc. is different from posting problems for others to solve -- these guidelines pertain only to posting problems.

How you define high school math
High school math is not only what you learn in the classroom, but also the math you would encounter on high school math contests (a lot of which you don't learn in the classroom). In general it consists of math that is common to us all or can become common to us all in short time, given the completion of the high school curriculum. This includes:

high school algebra, inequalities, euclidean geometry, precalc, one-variable calculus, combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, proofwriting

Examples
I think the most recent problems I've given in this forum are all consistent with the guidelines. Farther back into my posts, I think one of the putnam problems I posted was okay, whereas I think another one of the putnam problems I posted involved group theory. So you see that some putnam problems are okay.

On any upcoming quibbles
1. If you think I've left something out or have any arguments with the above, etc., then post here.
2. If you're foolish enough to scoff at high school math, go check out an IMO problem
3. There is no concept of good will in mathematical trash talking so anything goes in this arena.
4. Yeah, I've probably strayed from these guidelines before, but I will try not to in the future.


I crossed out the above because I am still considering what the guidelines should be. Don't mind these guidelines for the time being.

[rabbit]

What the heck is combinatorics?

[Ender]

What the heck is combinatorics?

counting. e.g. in a set of n elements how many ways can I choose a subset of 2.

[Rule]

It doesn't seem like people are swarming to post problems... These should probably be seen as suggestions rather than strict guidelines.  For instance, some people might appreciate problems which draw upon more advanced material, and as long as the poster makes a comment about the extra required background, I don't see why it should matter to those who don't have it.

[Ender]

We'll see how it works out. The goal is to encourage people to post problems for which background is not an obstacle. This may not work, though, as most people aren't exposed to high school-level problems. In fact, the title is really misleading since they don't teach this in high school =/

I won't be on again until next Thursday, and I may revise the guidelines then.